23 June 2011

You can see all of my previous adventures to know what I am talking about, what I have gotten for free in the past, and where I find all of the deals.

Last night I realized my dedication/sickness to getting free stuff, and my love of these coupon events. I had a softball game (I'm the coach of the team at work, we are 4-0 - BOOM). It was about 95 degrees, and after we sweated a lot, won, had pizza and I got in my car, it was about 10:00pm. Everyone mocked me (per the usual!) that I was going to Harris Teeter at 10:00p.m. I told them that I don't mess around! It was time to get serious. I had to quickly stop at home to collect a few more coupons that I had asked my BFF to cut out, and then I was off!

I got other things too for great deals, like SmartBalance Milk - priced at $4, but had a $1.50 coupon that doubled up to $3 - so the milk was only $1! The same goes for some Laughing Cow cheese that I've recently tried to incorporate into every meal. I didn't take a picture of all of those goods because by the time I got home at 11:00pm, I was wiped out and basically went straight to bed!

But P.S. - going to the store that late at night is awesome because you basically have the whole place to yourself. The only other people in the aisles were HT workers restocking.

So go home tonight, collect your coupons, and head to Harris Teeter for a GREAT adventure. As always, I would love to hear about your deals!

21 June 2011

I know - could I post any more about SPENDING money instead of saving? It seems like that is all I am doing. But this is still getting GREAT deals on things you might already be doing! Here is my post from a few months back about YipIt - which helps aggregate all of your Daily Deal sites so you don't get overwhelmed from about 10 emails a day!

But I thought BuyWithMe deserved a special post! Is it because I felt inspired after buying the daily deal for the DC area that involves 6 glasses of wine and 12 cupcakes for $17? MAYBE.

But, what is EXTRA cool about this site, is that on your first purchase, you GET $5 credit towards your next purchase! And, like Living Social, if you get 3 friends to buy the same deal, yours is free!

My best friend is getting married in a few months, and as the Maid of Honor - I am in charge of the bachelorette activities! So I've been thinking about a day of wine tasting for awhile now, but just hadn't "pulled the trigger." But that's where BuyWithMe came in. My BFF actually saw this deal today and called me about it and we bought it ASAP. So at $17 a piece for wine tasting and cupcakes , that is a steal. BUT when all the other guests buy through my referral link, I will get mine free - which will even bring our average price down MORE. I love DEALS! (Have you noticed?) Sites like these are especially great when you are tasked with planning a big group activity! Isn't that what summers are for?

14 June 2011

Hi everyone! I’m Carly, Christie’s soon-to-be-sister in law! Even though Christie and I aren’t officially related yet, I can definitely say that I share the same family love (obsession?) for finding great deals. I also love www.Etsy.com (don't we all?). Seriously I could (and do) spend hours browsing all the cute handmade stores. Etsy has especially helped out during the planning of our wedding- everything from my veil, to personalized stamps for our favor bags, to bridesmaid gifts (sshh, don’t tell Christie). It is a great place to buy yourself, or a loved one, something really cute and original.

So imagine my delight when I found out about www.Heartsy.me a website that is like Groupon for Etsy.

Every day they email their members with about five great deals that you can purchase for a discounted price. For example, you might be able to buy a $40 gift certificate to a jewelry shop for $12. The deals are really good, and the shops always vary. Often they will include deals on stationary, soaps, baby items, jewelry, artwork, and clothing. Plus, you can refer friends and get $5 credit when they make their first purchase, which you can then use to buy your own deals, making them even cheaper! Win- win-win.

So what are you waiting for? Sign up now and get $5 towards your first purchase!

This is Christie posting now. If you want to see other posts by Carly, you can see some on my dear friend Shannon's site: The Scribble Pad. And I assumed you would want to see a precious pic of me and Carly! Sassy!)

31 May 2011

As I've mentioned before, I try to be like my mom every time I go out couponing (well, in plenty of other ways too)! She is pretty much the master. But unfortunately for her, she doesn't live around a Harris Teeter, so never gets to experience the triple couponing magic. Well this weekend our local grocery (in Indiana - or maybe just in my family, we just say grocery - not "grocery store" and no, it's not weird) Marsh, had a TRIPLE COUPON event and my mom was thrilled. When she spends half the year in FL they don't even double coupons ever (collective GASP!). She says they are trying to take it to the old geezers down in FL! Haha. Classic.

This is her haul!...(on her first trip! She went back again a few days later for some extras, obv)

She scored over $150 worth of products for $20. She is downright impressive.

I have to go to the grocery tonight, and am confused by the thought that there is no coupon event. No Super Double. No Triple. So just NORMAL?! How am I supposed to survive like this? :) I'll just have to start a countdown and wait until next month. But sadly, I can't wait until then for food.

27 May 2011

Why haven't I been blogging this week? Well...me and my BFF have been way too busy pricing, organizing and gathering goods for our EPIC yard sale tomorrow. We've also been remaining stationary, just in case any movement could be construed as a rain dance! So all of you out there, please, think good (DRY) thoughts for no rain tomorrow!

For any of you DC locals, I expect to see you there! We have TONS of stuff. Both my BFF and I have already SPENT more than we have made (which is $0) as we keep finding things our friends bring that we want to buy. Best purchase (ever?!) was a rotating room fan for $4! It already has a permanent spot in our poorly insulated (read: HOT) home.

23 May 2011

As I mentioned before, buying wedding gifts for all of your friends can be EXPENSIVE. So I am always trying to think of more ways to save money. Now this is sort of a work-around, and isn't exactly saving so much as using what you have.

I know that credit cards aren't for everyone - and if you aren't good at managing your money or keeping within a budget, then don't get credit cards! But if you DO have one, make sure you have one that gives you some type of rewards. My roommate has one that gives her 5% cash back on all purchases - and it's amazing and no longer offered due to that incredible rate. JEALOUS.

I like it well enough, I'm not sure I have the best one, but it works for me! So they have a rewards system called ThankYou Points. In the past, I would cash in for a $50 Banana Republic or Gap Gift Card, knowing that I would eventually spend it there, and I will always buy clothes. But then I realized, I don't really "need" to spend money on clothes (currently), but I do HAVE to spend money on wedding gifts. I checked out their full list of reward gift cards and realized that they have tons of cards available for the places I needed to buy gifts from registrys!

So the last time I had saved up enough points, I cashed in for a $100 Bed, Bath and Beyond Gift Card, so it was MUCH less painful when I went to the register. A $146 purchase (after the use of the 20% off coupons - obv!), became only actually $46 out of pocket. This is just a small way you can sort of use what you already "have" on more important things than a new pair of jeans from the Gap...(wait, I love jeans...crap!)

Again, I would LOVE to hear other ideas on how to save money buying wedding gifts for friends!

20 May 2011

So evidently, a lot of people like reading how insane I am for hunting down the deals at Harris Teeter! It's sort of awesome, but sort of frightening now that my full load of crazy has been exposed to the interenet world :)

For any of you newcomers - check out some of my other posts to see more awesome ways to save money, get free stuff, and even MAKE money.

19 May 2011

So as you may have heard (from my hoots and hollers!), it is Harris Teeter Triple Coupons right now! So I did some planning, made my list, and organized my coupons (as you can see below) and headed out, after a long day of counting down the hours! And if you are thinking, "wow, this girl is insane" -- I agree, and am aware. Look how thick my stack of coupons was!

As you may have read in the Harris Teeter Coupon Policy, you are only allowed 20 coupons per day, per card. That would just not do with the load I was planning to take home. So I borrowed my trusty friend's Harris Teeter Card (again, yes, I know how insane this sounds) and headed off. Brace yourself, this is epic. These are all of the items that I got for FREE!

I felt this side didn't get enough glory in the group post. Look at all that sauce!

This is an insane amount of...everything. Luckily, most of it is non-perishable, so I will give/force it upon friends, use it, or save it for a food drive! And my roommate or I will actually use most of this stuff. Probably not 4 bottles of hot sauce immediately...but maybe eventually?

Here are the items that I actually paid for (but had coupons - of course!)

A lot of people probably think this took me hours - it did not! With my list, I was in and out of there in about 1 hour. Well worth the time!

My cashier was a real stickler, she checked that every coupon was valid (which it was), but she was extremely helpful and didn't mind when I asked to do two separate transactions. As you can see below, I saved nearly the identical amounts on both transactions.

I got over $108 worth of groceries for $15! Incredible. I can't wait for the next TRIPLE COUPON event, even if I have to wait another year. I would love to hear about your trips! I always love finding other deals people have found...even if it would make me want to go back again today. Luckily (to save me from full on crazy), I fly back home to Indiana tonight for wedding 2/6...so another trip isn't possible :)

17 May 2011

It seems that my blog is turning into a Harris Teeter focused extravaganza. If that is the case, I apologize for those that live states away from a Harris Teeter. But for those of you that do live close, I hope that you are as excited as I am! I spent at least an hour on my couch last night printing coupons...watching Vampire Diaries. Don't judge me! :)

TRIPLE coupons start tomorrow. This means any coupon LESS than $1 will triple in value. So a .75 cent coupon would be worth $2.25, .50 cent would be worth $1.50 and so on.

You can see all of my previous posts about Harris Teeter here: Harris Teeter Past Adventures and Tips. It seems that this is VERY rare, as I only remember this happening once in the past year or so, as compared to the Super Double event that happens a lot!

For this specific coupon event, I've printed most of the coupons using my trusty Coupon Printer!

To show you my obsession, I may have discussed going BEFORE work tomorrow so I can be sure to beat the crowds...and then maybe again on Thursday if I can't do it all in one trip! I would say I need a hobby...but this is it!

16 May 2011

As you may or may not have heard from the Guinness Book of World Records, I've been invited to 9....NINE...weddings this summer. Unfortunately, I can't go to them all as my calendar (and checking account) both have a finite amount of days, and dollars in them. But of course, I want to get presents for all the newlyweds - but how to get them, without spending all of my hard earned money? (I don't think my mother's suggestion of making them baskets of all my free toiletries is quite appropriate for these events! Ha)

After seeing where everyone is registered, and determining the price of the gift you want to purchase, I make a list of all of the places I need go, and see which wedding registrys match up so I can combine my shopping adventures (might as well save time too!).

My BIGGEST suggestion, try (if possible) to go to Bed, Bath and Beyond. If you don't know this, they have about a billion 20% off one item coupons floating around (usually in the ads of the Sunday paper).

If you have 5 items, you can use 5 of those coupons and so on. AND they accept expired coupons, forever! So if you want to get a $50 gift, you can find your item, and use a coupon, so you actually would only pay $40! Huzzah. I know that my future sister-in-law specifically switched some of their items to their Bed, Bath and Beyond so that her guests could save some extra cash, which is awesome!

What if they aren't registered there? Now this is something I just learned to do recently, thanks to my mama. If you find a gift CHEAPER somewhere else (where they aren't registered), you can just call where they ARE registered, and ask them to remove it from the registry. Amazing. So if they are registered at Macy's, and you find the dishes cheaper at Kohl's, you can buy it at Kohl's, then call Macy's to ask them to remove it from the registry. Who knew?!

Of course, always watch your paper for coupons - often Macy's has great sales and coupons in the paper. And it NEVER hurts to ask when you are checking out if there are any coupons out there that you are missing. Often, the cashier will have something that may give you a small discount!

And of course, if you are ever buying anything online, always search for codes, and get cash back :)

For shower gifts and smaller, personalized items, I recommend looking for cute things on Etsy!

03 May 2011

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I don't know how I got this little Twitter bird above this line of text, but I love it. Tweet tweet or HOOT hoot :)

So the wild world of Twitter can be a very scary place as there are nearly...a bajillion people to follow. As I've mentioned before, I love Twitter and think it is a HUGE tool you can use for things like FREE stuff, customer service issues, giving postivite feedback, etc.

Here are a few people that I recommend, that will be EXCELLENT references for deals and coupons, but it won't completely take over your life/Twitter feed.

I had the HUGE help of my BFF...and her VIC Card. You can only use 20 coupons a day per card, and we had more than that! Keep in mind, we bought regular groceries too (we aren't psychos who only eat pasta, cat food and syrup - ha). These are just the ones that I separated out, masterfully arranged, and took a picture of like a crazy person. Unlike some of the trips I make, we will actually use ALL of this stuff. No, we probably can't drink all that milk by ourselves, so I am going to bring one to work to share with coworkers, my BFF is going to give one to her fiancee - see - pay it forward and don't be a hoarder! (I might have to trademark that phrase!)

You can find most of the deals and coupons I used here from these amazing women that do all the work for me:

28 April 2011

I'm sure many of you have been waiting with bated breath to hear about the epic, FIRST ANNUAL, Minute to Win It tournament. All you really need to know is that it was awesome, and I HIGHLY recommend organizing your own. It was very easy to set up, with a small amount of supplies, and it gave us a day of fun!

The contestants were: me, my brother (@Grennes_III), Carly (future sis-in-law), my dad, and my brother's best friend, Scotty. The champion: SCOTTY. When asked if the 10:00am start time would be ok, his response was "I may or may not be drunk/hungover, but I'm a beast at parlor games when I'm on the sauce".

Game: Go the Distance

Game: Stack Attack

THE CHAMPION (playing Bucket Head).

In Bucket Head, we had to get a bucket on our head, to catch bouncing ping pong balls. While trying to figure out what we were going to use, one of my brother's suggestions was "duct tape a bucket to your face." Though, I have to give him credit. Bobby did ALL the set up, and he was the brains behind the whole operation (rules, tie breakers, supplies, you name it). Big ups.

And HOW does this have to do with saving money? Well, this is a great, CHEAP, way to spend some time with family and friends and have a blast. Good wholesome fun.

And to wrap it up, a final thought from the Champion.

When asked if Scotty was pumped up..."Real excited. I've been dreaming about this moment all my life."

In case you forgot what that means, you can read my previous post here. So head out and use those $1 coupons this week for MEGA savings! http://www.harristeeter.com/

And to get a feel for some of the free things you might score, you can see my trip from last time here.

So it looks like maybe this promotion is now running every month, which is incredible and amazing and life changing. Dramatic? Yes. Now I will be on the hunt and always collecting perfect SUPER DOUBLE coupons. I only wish I would have known about this a day ago when I was home in Indiana. This is a picture of our counter-top, covered with the coupons my uncle brought us at Easter. He and my mom trade coupon inserts. Hilarious and awesome.

27 April 2011

Now this post isn't exactly about saving money, it's just about a great website - Etsy.com. If you haven't heard of it, then you are in for a treat. Etsy is a social commerce website focused on handmade or vintage items as well as art and craft supplies. Every experience I've had with Etsy has just been fabulous. Each separate seller has been extremely responsive, helpful and full of creative ideas!

Often, when I'm in need for a gift, I just go on Etsy and type a word in...like "Indiana" and see what I find that matches that theme. It's fun and dangerous, because you will be sucked into a vortex and lose hours of times thinking of all the things you want to buy for yourself, and others!

Here are just a few things I have purchased (all custom orders) and would HIGHLY recommend.

These are amazing old maps that have a heart stitched around any city you want. I got these as gifts for 3 people...and one for myself because it was too cute not to have!

26 April 2011

Now this is one of my absolute TOP recommendations for saving money. When shopping online, I almost ALWAYS use a coupon code and/or get CASH back. How do I do that? I'm so glad you asked.

Now it seems complicated at first, but it's actually quite simple, and TRUST me, it's well worth the effort. Using these methods I have saved hundreds of dollars and gotten hundreds of dollars BACK. I literally get sent a check, or money through Paypal from these websites.

First, you must sign up for Ebates and BigCrumbs. They are my main 2 (there are others, but like I've said before, I don't want to overwhelm you!) sites for getting cash back.

So now when you know where you want to shop, say Target, you go here: http://evreward.com/. Then you type in Target, and you see lots of things pop up. You can see Coupon Codes at the top that you can use when checking out to save you money, and then you see at the bottom which cash back website gives you the biggest percentage of cash back.

Then you simply go to Ebates or Big Crumbs, log in, again type in Target, and click through their site to Target. That's all. They will automatically track your purchases, and then give you CASH back. You can usually sign up to get a check, or receive it directly through Paypal.

So yes, it is a few more clicks, but ultimately WAY worth it. It's amazing. Give it a try, and come back and tell me how much money you are getting! Hoot!

And in case you are really interested, here is another GREAT cash back site:

21 April 2011

I'm heading back to Indiana tonight and I can't WAIT. I think this calls for a list of the reasons I'm excited.

1. Family Quality Time (obviously) and seeing my friends.

2. Tonight AND Saturday the Indiana Pacers have a playoff game that I will get to watch with my family and eat tons of chips and various dips.

3. Minute to Win It - FIRST Annual Championship.

Ok, if you haven't watched this show, um YOU'RE WELCOME for me introducing you to it. It's amazing. You need to find the episode called "Kids Rule Part 1 &2" - it's 2 hours, and it will induce sobbing in happy hysterics. It was the first episode I watched, and I've been hooked ever since. So clearly me, my brother, his fiancee', and his best friend have come up with an epic tournament that will take place Saturday morning. I'll report back, hopefully, with a trophy.

4. Indiana Garage Sale Prep. Due to a scheduling conflict, I won't be able to attend this two day extravaganza, and it's pretty devastating. BUT, I am going to help organize and price and prepare for this gala. This will call for another stop at CVS to get more free stuff to sell, and then working with my mom, organizing her MANY FREE toiletries and counting all the things we will be SELLING!

So have a very happy Easter weekend, and maybe you will be motivated to clean out your house and organize and find some things to sell or donate!

So I had some ExtraBucks to spend, so I figured I would pay for my items, using those, and get some ECBs back. With all of my coupons and all of the sales...my total only came to $1.39! And I got $6 ExtraBucks BACK!

I also got 6 packs of Adult Depends (clearanced at $1.82 - had a $2.00 off coupon!)...but that is a whole other story!

So I had a coupon for pretty much everyone of these items. Aka...like 20 coupons. At the counter, everything was going very smoothly and we got down to my last few coupons, and instead of taking $2 off, it ADDED $2. Obviously, not ok with that, the manager came over, tried to fix it, failed and then announced that we had to VOID the whole transaction and start over. At this point, there was a line of about 20 people behind me, but I didn't dare look back to see their glares of hate. Also, mind you, this meant I had to RE-take out my 6 packs of adult diapers (I promise, they aren't for me!) in front of a large CVS mob. Ahh the plight of a couponer. My cashier was extremely helpful and had a great attitude and just started over. And it went off without a hitch!

It was amazing, and one of the better CVS trips I've had in recent weeks.

19 April 2011

Ok, so I don't usually post about ways to spend money...but if you are going to do it, this is the way.

Now is THE time to sign up for RueLaLa. If you sign up now, you get a $20 creditto start with. That's incredible, and I'm jealous that I didn't have that when I first signed up! It's a designer/discount website that has daily deals. You have to be a "member" to buy from them. So they have boutiques open daily with crazy good deals on things, that only last for 24 hours.

Now generally, I don't buy "fancy" things, but that doesn't mean I don't WANT to buy fancy things. So this is how I use Rue La La. I see things that I really want (but am not willing to pay full price for), and I watch for them to come up on RueLaLa, and then I snag them and feel good about getting them for a great discount.

I've gotten three things on RueLaLa and I'm obsessed with each one of them.

18 April 2011

I love ending a shopping trip with the cashier saying "THIS is how you shop and use coupons!" Oh I couldn't agree more. I went to see a movie on Saturday night, and that theatre happened to be next to Target. When picking up my friend, this is how my text went "What time should I pick you up...leaving time for dinner...and obv Target?" This is pretty much how my life rolls, revolving around when I can stop for FREEBIES! :)

Here is my loot. Ok, actually there were 2 more boxes of Skittles...that I ate at the movies.

And here is what my receipt looked like - I ONLY payed for tax - $.27! Hooooot!

My cashier was pretty much ideal, and proud of me. Sometime cashiers are trouble and surly (I'll post about how to deal with them soon)! Everything I bought, I had coupons for to make them free, so I only paid for the tax. I will eat the Skittles, my BFF will eat the Kashi cereal and I will SELL the Airwicks at our Yard Sale (more about that soon too!). Yippee!

15 April 2011

Yesterday I spent 7 glorious (?) hours doing nothing/sitting at Jury Duty. I had such high hopes for yesterday. I thought, I will either get let out and spend the day sitting on my couch watching 8 episodes of Friday Night Lights being productive, or I will get to finally experience being on a jury and in courtroom. I'm 28, and have NEVER been called for Jury Duty before. Are they anti-gingers?

But 'twas not to be. So I sat there for 7 hours, with my beloved Kindle and finished my book club book and then started AND finished a whole other book.

As a HUGE fan of The Hunger Games, a friend of mine recommended The Long Walk. It was really good, and made me cheesily/embarrassingly type in an email to this friend "this book made me happy to be alive." So if you like The Hunger Games, I would definitely recommend it. And if you don't know what The Hunger Games is...tsk tsk.

And here is where I tell you about the awesome power of Twitter. I resisted for a long time, but then I fell in love with it and am never looking back. Follow me on Twitter HERE!

So here is just a SMALL example of how even Twitter can save you money and get you FREE things. One of my favorite tweeters, Down With the Capitol, was running a contest to win a Box Set of The Hunger Games Trilogy, and all you had to do was "re-tweet." (for any Twitter newbies, basically that just means copy and pasting). Long story short, I did it and I WON. And I have already lent this to 3 different people who have all loved the books!

But just that simple thing on Twitter was an awesome, EASY, way to get something (that I wanted!) for FREE. So if you haven't already, you should join Twitter (it's also FREE and Easy - HOOT!). I will post soon about different people I recommend to follow that will give you awesome tips for saving money, coupons, free stuff etc!

Also, for any of you out there (who know me and see me), just ask and you can borrow this whole set, and fall in love with the books like I did.

And if I don't know you yet (sad), never fear, you can buy them here: Hunger Games Trilogy Boxset. And remember, you can always use some of that Amazon $$ you have collected through Swagbucks to buy them!